_THINGS MISSING IN HEAVEN_
REVELATION xxi. 1-7.
What a number of "conspicuous absences" there are to be in "the
home-land!"
No more sea! John was in Patmos, and the sea rolled between him and his
kinsmen. The sea was a minister of estrangement. But in the home-country
every cause of separation is to be done away, and the family life is to be
one of inconceivable intimacy. No more sea!
And no more pain! Its work is done, and therefore the worker is put away.
When the building is completed the scaffolding may be removed. When the
patient is in good health the medicine bottles can be dispensed with. And
so shall it be with pain and all its attendants. "The inhabitant never
says: 'I am sick!'"
And no more death! "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death." Yes,
he, too, shall drop his scythe, and his lax hand shall destroy no more for
ever. Death himself shall die! And all things that have shared his work
shall die with him. "The former things have passed away." The wedding-peal
which welcomes the Lamb's bride will ring the funeral knell of Death and
all his sable company.